“Do you favor or oppose creating a single-payer health care system, in which all Americans would get their health insurance from one government plan that is financed by taxes?”

Results

It found that 40% of those surveyed said they favoured such a system while 33% said they were not in favour in such a system. A breakdown indicates that 21% strongly favour a single-payer healthcare system and 19% somewhat favour such a system. A total of 22% strongly oppose the idea while 11% are somewhat opposed to it.

A further 26% said they did not know.

When don’t knows are removed, 59% are in favour of a single-payer system and 41% are against it.

Poll break-down

Voters are significantly split by their party affiliation as well as their ideological identification. 54% of Democrat respondents said they were in favour of a single-payer system while just 28% of Republicans agreed. Furthermore, a total of 66% of liberals were in favour against just 20% of conservatives.

There is also a split when the comes to age-groups with younger voters more likely to be in favour of such a system, however, the difference is marginal.

On top of that, 61% of those who voted for Clinton said they were in favour of such a system while just 22% of those who voted for Trump agreed.

A previous YouGov poll from the 15th - 18th July suggested that 41% were in favour of a single-payer healthcare system and that 35% were opposed to one. There has only been a slight change since this poll. The fact that the polls are so similar suggests accuracy in their findings.

Furthermore, on Thursday 27th July, a Republican Senator introduced a motion for a single-payer system in an effort to expose an “intra-party rift” in the Democrats, according to CNN. The site also reported that Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost out to Hillary Clinton in last year’s Democratic presidential nomination race did not support the measure, but is working on his own single-payer healthcare plan.

With a Republican president, a Republican Senate, and a Republican House of Representatives there likely will not be a single-payer healthcare system any time soon, but the YouGov numbers indicate that there is significant support for such a system, and a disastrous Trump presidency could usher in someone of the same cloth as Bernie Sanders in 2020 who might just push the idea.

Richard Wood

Richard Wood is a Masters student in Political Research at the University of Aberdeen and is Head of Media for campaign-group TalkPolitics. Other than politics, he is passionate about travel, running, and writing, as well as all things space-related.